When I was 11 years old, I started writing short stories. When I was 13, I wrote a 120-page novella in three days.
Inspired by R.L. Stein’s Goosebumps, and Lurlene McDaniel’s One Last Wish book series, and all of the many, many books I’d read leading up to that point, I just decided to sit down and craft my own stories.
And then not long after that, I heard about a movie called “Message In A Bottle” that was about to debut in theatres (this was 1999 LOL). I knew it was based on a book and I wanted to read the book before I saw the movie.
My mom’s friend had a copy of the book and said I could borrow it when she was finished. In the meantime, she gave me another book by the same author to read. That book was The Notebook, by Nicholas Sparks.
And reading it sparked something in me that day (no pun intended). A remembrance. A knowing. A certainty.
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